Tannehill Set to Face Big Test in Desert

Life was never going to be easy for QB Ryan Tannehill of the Miami Dolphins. He was always going to be looked at as the guy that Miami drafted far too early, and really no matter how great he turns out to be, he will never be on a championship team for as long as Jeff Ireland is around, because the Dolphins won’t have the talent around him to compete with the best teams in the league.

Tannehill has terrible numbers this year, as he is completing just 52.9 percent of his passes, has just 615 yards, and four picks against a single touchdown. That leaves him a quarterback rating of just 58.3, and he is destined to be one of the worst in the league.

In fairness though, the Dolphins have already run up against the Houston Texans and New York Jets in the first three weeks of the year, and those are secondaries that would make even elite quarterbacks shake in their boots.

This week’s task for Tannehill? It’s not getting any easier. The Arizona Cardinals are on tap in the desert, and they feature one of the most aggressive, ball hawking defenses in the game.

The Cards have a fantastic secondary that is explosive, led by DB Patrick Peterson, who was their top draft pick in 2011. Tannehill is going to really need to pay close attention to where Peterson is at all times, but he also needs to be aware of the seven different men that already have a sack this year for Arizona.

The Cardinals rank No. 7 in the league in pass defense at 206.0 yards per game, and last week alone, they crushed QB Michael Vick, forcing three turnovers and scoring a touchdown on the final play of the first half.

Tannehill and his Dolphins are 6 ½-point underdogs on the Week 4 NFL odds.